HB 675, a school funding nightmare
Granite staters value education. This is evident in our consistent high ratings by multiple educational ranking organizations. It is even more clearly proven by the way we tax ourselves at the town and city level. In the void caused by the state government’s refusal to pay the per student amount required by our state constitution, our residents pay ever higher property taxes to ensure the quality of education in NH doesn’t falter. The hardships this causes are subject for another day. Today, the immediate problem is HB 675. The Republicans in the New Hampshire House of Representatives want to limit our ability to maintain the level of education we offer our children with a state-mandated cap on school district budgets. This is another cynical attempt by the Republicans, driven by the free staters, to diminish public education to the point of failure. The same people who are funneling your state tax dollars into vouchers that supplement tuition payments for students whose families can mostly afford private school are now trying to limit how much you can choose to fund public schools. New Hampshire was ranked last in state funding of public education, even before the vouchers kicked in. If we allow HB 675 to become law, the state will surely slip in its ability to educate our children, affecting our cherished high ranking in national polls. Rankings aside, the choice to fund excellence should be in the hands of the people who have stepped up to the funding plate when the state has failed to pitch in. We need to find sensible solutions to the very real property tax problem. Underfunding our public schools is not one of them.